House Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) just announced there will be no vote tonight on the Boehner debt bill.
A remarkable turn of events. Simply no reason for Boehner to bring up his own bill if it was doomed to fail, and clearly it was.
Despite a lot of confident talk from Boehner and his leadership team, it appears they never had the votes. Read More
It’s been four hours now since Speaker Boehner scuttled the scheduled vote on his own debt plan. We have five TPM reporters up on the Hill, along with dozens of reporters from other outlets, awaiting some signal that Boehner has rounded up the necessary votes. No decisive movement of Republican votes in his direction has been detected, though often times these things don’t become publicly visible until after the fact.
There are rumblings, unconfirmed, that Boehner may have to make some tweaks to his bill to win over a few more votes and get it passed. But that would probably delay a final vote until tomorrow at the earliest.
One interesting dynamic here is that this Republican House has foresworn earmarks, the type of baubles that come in very handy when it’s time for horse-trading. That makes the art of persuasion more difficult for Boehner.
Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX), who has been considered either undecided or a no vote for Speaker Boehner’s debt plan, tells reporters he’s now a yes vote.
Does Boehner have the votes now? “Apparently not, or we’d be upstairs voting,” Burgess said.
As for Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), he told reporters, “I haven’t changed my mind about anything … I’m looking for a restroom, you gonna follow me in?” Franks is considered a “No” vote.
Reporters are massed outside Speaker Boehner’s office, and House Democrats are poised to vote as soon as the speaker clears the way for a final vote on his debt plan. But there’s still no indication of when that might be.
Earlier Majority Leader Cantor’s office said the re-scheduled vote would come around 7 p.m. ET. But still nothing. The vote whipping continues. This could go on all evening — or, Boehner could secure the necessary votes and bring it to a vote at any time. Stay tuned.
If John Boehner does convince some no votes to switch to yes, you wonder who they will be, how they explain the arm-twisting, and how that plays politically down the road.
This kind of last-minute, high-stakes whipping is very fraught for everyone involved. There’s a long tradition of this kind of thing happening, but in modern times with the press scrutiny of the Hill, there’s a new emerging tradition of these kinds of arm-twisting sessions proving politically embarrassing to the twister and the twistee alike.
Should be interesting.
Dispatches from the Capitol via our reporters and others’ indicate a steady stream of Republican Members of Congress — who are already announced “No” votes on the Boehner plan — being summoned to the Speaker’s office.
On his way in to the Speaker’s office, Rep. Louis Gohmert (R-TX) — a strong “No” vote — said he had been called to the principal’s office. On the way out, Gohmert said he was still a “bloody, beaten down no.” Read More
Here’s the latest on Boehner’s decision to postpone tonight’s vote.
The House vote on Speaker Boehner’s plan scheduled for tonight has been postponed indefinitely. Read: He didn’t have the votes to pass it.
Late word from Cantor’s office is that they will still try for a vote this evening, possibly around 7 p.m. ET. But clearly they’re buying more time to whip up a few more votes to make sure they can pass it.